What Lies Ahead
by MickeyRos
Summary: Post Season 3 - Isabelle and Shawn see each other for the first time after being released from NTAC and discover an unusual connection to each other.


Spoilers: All of Season 3, in particular post all of the events that took place in Fifty/Fifty. None of the events of Season 4 happened.

Summary: Isabelle and Shawn see each other for the first time after being released from NTAC and discover an unusual connection to each other.

**What Lies Ahead**

Shawn walked through the vacant building, surprised to see that it had changed so little in a year. Except for the fine layer of dust, sheets that covered the furniture, and the vines on sides of the building; it was desolate and abandoned. Yet, it still felt like home. Especially, after spending the last six months stuck at NTAC since waking up from his Isabelle-induced coma.

It had only been two weeks since his release and he had been staying in a hotel. He was too old to move back in with his mother or stay with his Uncle Tommy; although, they had both offered. He'd told them that he didn't want to intrude on their private lives. But, the truth was that he had grown used to living on his own after being at the 4400 Center and he liked having his own space. Plus, with the considerable amount of money in his personal bank account he had enough to buy a place of his own. He just hadn't found that place yet. But, he would and it would be nice and secluded, where he could just be himself, regular old Shawn Farrell. Not the infamous 4400 healer.

He walked out onto the vast courtyard to enter his favorite spot at the 4400 Center, the garden veranda. Much like the building, the veranda was no longer groomed to perfection with roses, green bushels of trees. Instead, it resembled an untamed jungle with green and brown weeds wrapping themselves around the veranda railings. As he walked closer to the center he saw a lone figure standing in a black silhouette with their hands clasped together. It was the thick waves of black hair that gave her away though. "Isabelle," Shawn said to himself in surprise. Then, again out loud.

She didn't turn around. Either she hadn't heard him or she ignored him and his presence entirely. A cool breeze of flew around them. He shifted closer until he was standing directly behind her, he reached for her shoulder. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm mediating. Don't interrupt." Isabelle finally answered. Realizing that the moment had passed, she sighed dropping her hands to her sides.

"Are you finished? How did you get out here?"

Isabelle turned her head, sweeping the hair that blew into her face behind her ears. "You mean how did I get out of NTAC?"

"Yes."

"I may not have my abilities anymore, but I was never stupid. I simply explained that it would not be beneficial to keep me locked away."

"That's all? You told them that to let you go and they did?"

"Something like that." Isabelle turned back moving toward Shawn. It was odd talking to him again. But, it had been a little more than a year since she had really seen Shawn excluding her interrogation of him. Not to mention that he had greatly changed. The man she had known before was always clean-shaven and dressed in tailored suits that were sculpted to his lean physique.

The Shawn she saw before her sported a five o'clock shadow, dressed in all dark colors. He was wore a black leather jacket over slim dark blue jeans and a black shirt.

Although, he was obviously the same person, the man that she had loved and shared her body with, wasn't him. It was evident in even the tiniest detail of his stance that he had changed.

"What is it?" He asked, his eyes narrowing at her. "Why are you staring at me?"

"You look different," was all she said.

He sighed and pointedly returned her stare. "Being in a coma for six months changes you."

"If you want an apology for that, I'm not going to give you one. I did what I had to do to get information."

Shawn gave her a tight bitter smile. "I see. And tell me, how did that work out for you?" He paused. "You didn't get Jordan and you lost your abilities. So was putting me in a coma really worth it?"

"Yes," she moved closer still. "I made a small error in judgment. But, I've learned from my mistakes. I won't make the same one twice dealing with Jordan Collier. How about your abilities, are they the same? Can you still heal?"

Shawn snorted in disbelief as he raised his eyes heavenward seeing that the sky was somewhat overcast before looking back down at his former fiancé. She acted as though her attempt to kill him had been no more than an everyday occurrence. "Not that it's any of your business, my abilities are fine. But, then I haven't exactly been using them."

"Of course," she moved to stand in front of him. "But, you could try … on me? Can you heal me Shawn?" She reached out and took his hand in hers. "Fix me." She placed his palm down on her chest.

"Isabelle I don't know what kind of game you're playing but I want no part of it. Let go of my hand." He tried to pull his hand away from her grasp. She tightened her hold.

"I can't do that, Shawn." She licked her lips imploring him with her warm brown eyes to understand. "Please … heal me." She whispered. "I can't live like this. I don't know how to do this."

Shawn resisted shaking his head as he once again tried to pull his hand from hers. "Isabelle, if you don't let go of me I'll hurt you. And I don't want to do that. Please don't make me hurt you." When she wouldn't release his hand, he realized that he was left with no choice. "I'm sorry," he closed his eyes and focused his energy on weakening Isabelle's life force.

It was like a switch had been flipped on and Shawn's mind blanked out. All he heard was the thumping of Isabelle's heart like the beat of a drum, banging out to staccato rhythm. _Da-Dum, Da-Dum, Da-Dum_. He opened his eyes as the beating heart began to slow down and Isabelle's pallor changed to grey. Slowly, as if the world had frozen around them, he felt a force of energy from beneath his hand break her hold on him and propel them away from each other. As he hit the grass, he drowsily opened his eyes to see her lying a few feet away from him and then everything went black.

Shawn dreamed of a world where everything was dark when he felt water dripping on his face. As he slowly came into consciousness he could hear the sound of the rain as it hit the ground. Groaning softly, he recalled where he was as he slowly opened his eyes. Where it had been daylight when he had first arrived at the Center it was now night.

He struggled to sit up slowly as the rain continued to drop. Rubbing a hand over his face, he remembered what happened with Isabelle. She had wanted to see if he still had his power. And by the looks of it his power was stronger than it had ever been before. With his eyes finally focused, he searched out Isabelle to see that she was lying on the ground a few feet away from him. "Isabelle, are you okay?" He asked as he rose to his feet and walked over to her, kneeling down. "What happened? I've never done that before. Isabelle," he called again.

She didn't respond.

He hesitated for a moment before touching her arm. She was warm though her skin was moist from the rain. He gently shook her and still no response. Thunder rolled in a distance as the rain picked up and began to drop in haste.

Shawn glanced at the sky and knew that a storm was coming. He needed to get out of there. He looked down at Isabelle; he couldn't leave her there out in the rain. He felt for her pulse on her wrist, it seemed normal. Realizing that he had no choice, he lifted her up into his arms and prayed that no one at the hotel would ask any questions when he carried Isabelle in.

Isabelle snuggled into the warmth of the covers surrounding her. Turning on her side, she stretched up blinking her eyes open as the haze of sleep fell away. Glancing around, she noted that she was not in her bedroom. She didn't know where she was. Looking down, she realized that she was in a plain white t-shirt instead of the dress she'd been wearing earlier that day.

She rose into a sitting position, clutching the cover to her chest as she surveyed the room around her. It wasn't NTAC's prison, it was too nice, too big. The room had a king-sized bed, armour with a television and VCR/DVD combo on top of it.

"You're up. I was worried that you wouldn't wake-up." Shawn said as he stood leaning against the doorway.

"Where am I?"

"What's the last thing you remember?"

Isabelle frowned as she tried to recall where she had been with Shawn. "I was at the 4400 Center, mediating, trying to find my balance." Her eyes drifted up to his for confirmation. "We were talking … arguing, I grabbed your hand. I was trying to force you to kill me. And you were, my heart slowed down, I could feel it."

Shawn nodded, walking into the room to sit on the edge bed. "Do you remember what happened next?"

"No, I remember floating and waking up here." She ran her hand through her hair. She tugged on a wavy lock that was slightly damp. She raised her eyes to his questioningly. "What happened? I felt your ability working. How am I still alive?"

"I don't know." He glanced down at his legs, running his hands over his jean-clad thighs. "It was like something snapped inside of me and I couldn't control it. I could hear your heart beat slowing down and something pushed me away from you. I woke up on the ground and you were lying a few feet away from me. Are you okay?" He wanted to touch her to see if she was really fine but he stopped himself. He didn't know how to define their relationship before, but whatever it was, it was over. And he didn't want to revisit it. Beyond that, he had been touching her before when his ability had reacted, so it might not be best to touch her because he didn't want to hurt her, either.

"I'm fine Shawn. I just don't understand this, any of it. You should have killed me, I should be dead now but I'm not. It doesn't make any sense."

"I think it does. Maybe your abilities are returning or maybe they were never truly gone in the first place." Shawn suggested.

Isabelle shook her head, swinging long stands of her black curls in her face. "That's not possible. I don't have any abilities."

"You don't know that, maybe NTAC made a mistake."

"No, there was no mistake. You don't understand Shawn I don't have an ability anymore because there is no promicin in my blood. I don't produce it anymore. As a part of my deal with NTAC, I have to get tested every week and take a Promicin inhibitor shot. "

"Why would you do that Isabelle? Don't you remember what the inhibitor does? It kills us!"

Isabelle dropped her eyes away from Shawn's to examine the comforter in her lap. "No, Shawn it kills 4400s and I'm not a 4400. I never have been. Now, I'm just Isabelle Tyler," her eyes rose to meet his. "You can't tell any one about this Shawn not even your uncle. If they find out what you can do they won't let you go." She warned.

Shawn sat back slowly. "They already know what I can do. There's nothing special about it."

She sighed. "You still don't get it Shawn. Your abilities have advanced." She pushed the covers off. "You aren't just a healer anymore although you never truly were. You have the ability to control life within your hands and that makes you powerful, Shawn. More powerful than you can imagine." She rose from the bed. Shawn noted as she stood that his shirt which fell just above her thighs clinged to the curves of her body. "Where are my clothes?"

He rose from the bed. "Isabelle, you can't just leave. I want to call a doctor to make sure you're okay."

"Shawn, I'm fine. I don't need a doctor." She searched all the visible spots with her eyes before realizing that they weren't anywhere to be seen. "My clothes, where are they?"

He realized that there was nothing he could do to make Isabelle stay. And he wasn't really sure why he was trying to. "They were wet when I took them off. I sent them down to be dry cleaned. Look, if you're in a rush you can borrow some of my stuff. I probably have some pants or something that might fit you. Or you can wait until the cleaning service brings them back. Your choice."

"I guess there wouldn't be any harm in waiting. But once they arrive, I'm leaving."

"Fair enough. Do you want something to eat?"

"I'm not hungry. But, I would like a shower if you don't mind."

"Not at all. Help yourself." Shawn said before he left the room closing the door behind him.

Isabelle wiped the steam away from the mirror before wrapping herself in a fluffy white towel. It felt nice to get the dirt off of her. She'd used her time in the shower to think about what happened and she still didn't understand it. Something had stopped Shawn from killing her but she didn't know what.

When she'd had her abilities there was something in them that made it impossible to even hurt her let alone to kill her. Now, there was nothing to protect her. It didn't make sense. The only thing she knew was that she needed to get away from Shawn as soon as possible. Being around him brought back feelings she shouldn't have; feelings that she had worked hard to forget.

She took the towel and quickly dried off before realizing in her haste to shower she hadn't brought anything to change into. She re-wrapped the towel around her and left the bathroom. She recalled hearing Shawn open the door after she came out of the shower, she walked out of the bedroom.

"Shawn, my clothes haven't come—," she started and stopped short when she opened the door and saw Tom Baldwin standing in Shawn's living room. She didn't know who was more surprised her or Tom.

"Isabelle's here?" Tom asked indignantly as he took in Isabelle's appearance with her hair in wet ringlets around her shoulders and her in a towel. "She put you in a coma for almost a year and you hop back into bed with her the minute you get out!"

Shawn ignored his uncle for a moment and guiding her back into the bedroom. "I left the dress on the chair." He closed the bedroom door before she could say anything and turned back to his uncle. "It's not what you think—,"

"Shawn, I thought you had more sense than this."

"We aren't sleeping together. I just ran into her today. We had an accident and got caught in the rain. My place was closer so we came here." He propped his hands on his hips. "Look if, you're so concerned that she's such a danger to me why did NTAC release her?"

"We didn't have a choice because of Dennis Ryland. She was working under his authority when she attacked the 4400 Center. As far as the public is concerned it would have looked like another government sanctioned attack on 4400s. And after Jordan's stunt with thousands of new 4400s coming out everyday we couldn't afford to hold her any longer without being forced admit what really happened. And unfortunately the higher ups in Washington just want to brush this all under the carpet so the search for Jordan Collier can take priority."

"So what you're really saying is that NTAC screwed up."

"In a word, yes. Isabelle was smart enough to broker this deal to be released so don't for one second think that she isn't as dangerous as she always was even without the abilities."

"She was telling the truth then. She doesn't have any abilities … at all?"

"No, we've even got her on the strongest possible dosage of the inhibitor to be on the safe side. So far as she's shown no evidence of having promicin in her system. But, that doesn't make her any less treacherous."

Shawn rubbed his hands across his face. "I know that Uncle Tommy. Believe me, I do. And believe me when I tell you I haven't gotten back with her in _any_ capacity. Like I said, we sort of met up. Is that what you came here to tell me?"

Tom risked a glance toward Shawn's bedroom where Isabelle was presumably getting dressed. He wanted to believe that his nephew was telling him the truth but something inside him wouldn't believe it. He had a feeling that Shawn was being less than truthful about whatever was going on between him and his ex-fiancé. He just hoped that whatever it was this time didn't end up getting Shawn killed. "I hope you know what you're doing."

"I do." Shawn replied as he escorted his uncle to the door.

Tom hesitated as he stood in the doorway, his hand on the doorknob. "Just be careful around her, Shawn." He left then sliding the door shut as he went.

Leaning against the door, Shawn released the breath he had been holding. Lying to his uncle wasn't something he liked doing. As he found himself more emerged in the 4400 drama it was becoming easier and easier. He did not look forward to the day when lying to his uncle would be done without a second thought. But, until he knew for certain what was going on with his ability it had to be done. "Isabelle you can come out."

She came out of the bedroom. "He's right you know. I am dangerous and you should stay away from me."

Shawn pushed away from the door and returning to the living room as she walked toward him, spotting her scandals on the floor by the sofa. She sat down and slid them on. As she leaned down, he got a tempting glimpse of her black lace bra from the neckline of the dress. Realizing where his eyes had dropped he raised his gaze to hers. "I don't think—,"

"That I won't hurt you?" She rose to her feet the height of her heel scandals bring them almost eye-to-eye. "I already accomplished that task. Shawn, I don't want to hurt you, I never did. But, that didn't stop me before and whatever happened today was caused by both of us. So I think we should err on the side of caution and just stay away from each other. It seems that would be for the best." She paused staring into his eyes as if she was searching for something. But, she apparently did not find it. "Be careful," she whispered as she leaned up and pressed a gentle kiss against his lips. Without another word Isabelle followed Tom's path and left Shawn's suite.

* * *

Shawn sat waiting in his uncle's office. It had nearly been a week since he'd seen Isabelle. Since their altercation at the 4400 Center the only thing he could think about was finding out what was happening to his ability. He'd tried to save a raccoon out by Highland Beach and ended up killing it. It wasn't the first time that had happened, only the most recent causality of his ability. He didn't understand it. And until he could figure out what was wrong and how to control it he'd stopped healing altogether. Thankfully, since his coma no one had questioned it.

"Shawn, I'll be back in a minute and then we can go to lunch." Tom said as he dropped a file down on his desk and left the room.

"Sure, Uncle Tommy," he replied as he leaned forward and glanced around on the desk. He noticed the file on the desk, "TYLER, ISABELLE." He stared at the file wondering if he should read it. No, he couldn't … shouldn't it was Isabelle's personal file at NTAC. On the other hand, he reasoned, if Isabelle had been keeping her court-regulated appointments he could find out if she was really okay or if she had been lying to him. More than that, he could find out if she had any abilities or if everything that had happened had been because of him.

Shawn glanced around the perimeter of the office noting that there was no one around or near the office. He reached over and pulled the file closer to him and opened it. The most recent results from her test were on top. Isabelle was 100 Promicin free. He scanned down the first several pages of the documentation about her weekly visits. It was all the same information; clearly she hadn't been showing any signs of having abilities for months. He almost discarded the file altogether when the official NTAC letterhead caught his eye. The first letter was an official letter of disillusionment with the National Threat Assessment Center and the Department of Defense signed by Dennis Ryland. The next letter was an agreement dated two months ago between NTAC and Isabelle to release her on her own reconnaissance with two provisions: the first provision being that she would have to return to NTAC Medical for bi-weekly visits ensure that her abilities didn't return and the second provision to brief NTAC on any information that she learned regarding the 4400s. She also had to report to NTAC if she developed any latent abilities. If she missed any of her weekly meetings with NTAC and she would be pulled back indefinitely.

Hearing his uncle talking with someone in the hallway, Shawn quickly replaced the file but not before dotting down the information on Isabelle's current residence and sliding the small piece of paper into his jacket pocket. Tom re-entered his office.

"Sorry about that Shawn. But, it looks like I'm going to have to cancel our lunch. Something's come up." HE said as he pulled his jacket off his chair and pulled it on.

"Of course," Shawn stood up quickly. "Nothing too serious I hope."

Tom shook his head. "We've just got another person launching an attack with their abilities at a middle school. Thanks to Jordan Collier's brilliant idea to market Promicin to the masses this is becoming all the more common." He escorted his nephew out of the office and down to an elevator. "I'll give you a call later this week and we can try to get together later."

"Sure." Shawn said as he and his uncle left the elevator in different directions. He waited until he got near his car in visitor parking to pull out the slip of paper with the address written on it. Sticking his key in the ignition he peeled out of the parking lot.

It was dark when Shawn pulled into the deserted street by Isabelle's home. He was surprised to find that she was living so far away from city. But then again he had to remember that she had never really enjoyed living in the city, she liked being on the outskirts of town. In any case it didn't matter; he needed her to help him. He had waited a week before he decided to get directions to her place thinking that his ability was just going through a minor change. Unfortunately, the small animals that he had attempted to heal were dead and buried in the Highland Beach woods. He needed to understand what was happening to him and she was the only one he could go to. She was the only one who could help him now that Jordan was no longer an option. He only hoped that she would agree to help him.

Shawn got out of the car, jerking up the collar of his jacket to protect himself from the misted rain that fell. Walking briskly across the lawn, he came under the cover of the porch and pushed the doorbell. He shook the droplets of rain off of his leather jacket watching as the rain drops began to quicken.

"Shawn," Isabelle said as she opened the door to her house. If she was surprised to see him, she didn't show it. "What are you doing here?

He turned back to her. "I wanted to talk to you about something. May I come in?" She held the door open and moved back to let him in. He followed her inside. "This is nice, it's much better than my condo."

She led him down the short hallway to the living room. "Have a seat." She gestured toward the beige sofa along the wall in front of the fireplace. As she took a seat in the chair by it, tucking her legs under her. "How did you find out where I was?"

Shawn declined to sit, taking the time to examine Isabelle's house. The decorations seemed familiar to him somehow. But, he couldn't figure out why, he was sure that he had never been in the house before. "I was checking in with my uncle and your file was on his desk?"

"So you peeked? Did you learn anything new? Or is this visit just out of curiosity?"

He walked over to her mantle and picked up the framed picture on it. "I didn't know you kept this." It was a picture of them taken at one of the many public outings they'd had before their wedding.

"I kept a lot of things Shawn. Besides, it's a nice picture." She replied coming up behind him to take the picture from him. She placed it back on the mantel.

"The file said you don't have any abilities, that you're completely human."

She snorted softly. "I've always been human, Shawn. Despite what you might think of me, I was never just some sort of science experiment that the future created to see what would happen."

"I didn't think you were. But, your abilities—,"

"Are gone. I don't have power over anyone or their abilities but I'm still me." She walked back to her seat.

"What does that mean exactly?"

"It's not important. I assume you came here for a reason Shawn."

Shawn walked over the sofa and sat down. "When you were working with Dennis Ryland, you weren't just his source for Promicin were you? You were his informant?"

"I still am."

"What do you mean?"

"Why do you think they let me out Shawn? When I worked for Ryland, it wasn't my abilities that he was interested in. Although, I'm sure to him it was an added bonus, I could tell him things about the 4400s that no one else could or would possible know." She rose and went to stand by a window, pushing the curtains away so she could watch the rain as it fell. "To get out of NTAC, I made them, an offer they couldn't refuse," she gave a small smile as turned to lean against the window. "But, there are some things I won't share with them, things that I will never tell them. About you for instance, I've never told them about you."

"What about me? I'm just a healer. There's nothing special about that."

Isabelle frowned. "Shawn you aren't just a healer, you never have been. But, that's what you're here isn't to find out. You think I changed you."

"No, I know you did something to me." Shawn shook his head, standing up. "Before I saw you I was fine but now I can't heal anything. Everything I've tried to heal has died. Killing was never something I could do but now, it's all I can do." He stalked toward until he was in her face.

"Shawn, I never did anything to you beyond putting you in that coma. And I did that to protect you."

"Protect me," he scoffed. "You almost killed me."

"No, I wouldn't kill you, Shawn. I would never kill you even if I had my abilities."

"That doesn't mean you couldn't. You could have turned my abilities against me at anytime, reversed it so I take lives instead of saving them."

Isabelle pushed him away from her. "That's where you're wrong. It's like I told you before Shawn, you're not a healer. You never were and you know that. Or did you forget when you tried to kill me before. You're a life force manipulator, Shawn."

Shawn shook his head in disbelief. "Even if I believed you and I'm not saying that I do. Why has it taken so long for this ability to manifest itself?"

"Your ability is apart of you, it flows from within. The more you try to force it; the likelihood is that it won't work. The coma I put you in tapped into the part of the ability that you ignore that's why it took so long for you to wake up."

"How do I fix it?"

"I can show you how to control it and let it work for you." She caressed his unshaven jaw, it clenched. "I can show you everything."

Shawn grabbed her wrist. "And what do you want in return? I doubt you'll be doing this for nothing."

Isabelle yanked her hand away. "You're right; I do want something from you Shawn. The question is - are you willing to give it to me, if I help you? I'm putting myself in danger of violating my agreement with NTAC by even telling you any of this. If they find out, I'll be put back into prison so fast and I won't get another chance to get out. I don't want to go back there."

"What do you want?"

"I want you to show me how to live without my abilities."

"That's it?"

"Yes, do we have a deal?" She offered him her hand.

Shawn stared at her hand before meeting her eyes. "We have a deal." As he took her hand in his, thunder clapped, the lights when out and lightening struck.

**Author's Note:** This is the end of the Life Lessons Series. I thought it worked better as a one-shot because it could be expanded into a longer story. I have began the process of writing a sort of sequel to this piece that deals with Shawn exploring the darker side of his abillity with Isabelle. It's only a work in progress at this point but I hope to complete it very soon.


End file.
